Need you now (song fic)
by gem6519
Summary: Clark and Lois are both having a hard time sleeping because they're missing each other too much. Lois is in Africa and Clark is still in Smallville. Sorry for the sucky summary. :(


**A/N: **This story is based on the Lady Antebellum song. I listened to it one time and felt that it was a perfect fit for Clois at this point in time.

**DEDICATION: **This story is lovingly dedicated to my special someone on the occasion of his '39th birthday.' If you know who Jack Benny is, then you'll get the joke – and if you don't, then…whatever. *shrugs shoulders*

**Part 1: Prologue **

Lois sits at the desk in the loft; her pen poised above the paper as she ponders what to say. She throws the pen down and gets up from the wooden chair and walks over to the window. She stares out at the corn field; the stalks gently swaying in the afternoon breeze.

She stands there for a while until she starts to get a little cold and closes the shutters. She sits back down and once again tries to put her thoughts and feelings into writing; once again crumpling up the paper and tossing it onto the floor. She pulls out another sheet from the desk drawer and stares at it for a minute before the words finally come to her.

She quickly scribbles the message, then folds it and slips it inside the envelope with only his name on the front of it. She tucks the flap inside, then hurriedly dashes down the stairs and out of the barn; not stopping until she reaches the mail box. She hesitates for a moment before placing the envelope inside, then closes the lid and raises the metal flag up. Tears begin to form in her eyes as she walks back to her car and gets behind the wheel. She blinks them away and slowly pulls out of the driveway…

Clark muttered under his breath as he super-sped back to the farm after his encounter with Jor-El at the Fortress. He changed into his usual casual attire of a red plaid flannel shirt over a white t-shirt with blue jeans, then stepped out onto the porch and started to head on over to the barn. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices that the metal flag on the mailbox was up. He changes direction and walks over to it and lifts the lid. He peers inside, but all there was a single solitary envelope. He pulled it out and saw his name written across the front of it in an all too familiar script.

His heart skipped a beat as he carefully opened it and slid the piece of paper out. It didn't take him all that long to read the nine words written in Lois' handwriting.

_**Clark,**_

_**I couldn't pass up Africa after all.**_

_**Lois**_

His heart begins to ache as he reads the letter over and over again until the late afternoon breeze takes it away. His eyes squint from the sun in his eyes as the letter slowly disappears from his view…

* * *

**Part 2: Clark's POV (Posted 2/21/13)**

He climbed the stairs with a heavy heart and opens the front door, his hand rubbing his chest in a vain attempt to make the pain in his heart disappear. He's unaware that he left the front door open behind him, but if he did he wouldn't have cared. All he could think about was the words to Lois' letter. There's a small part of him that's angry at her for not telling him in person of her sudden decision to take the job in Africa. Yet he understood why she did it.

As he enters the living room, his eyes fall on the series of pictures of him and Lois scattered all around the room. He can't help the wistful smile on his face when he recalls the day when they were supposed to have a romantic picnic out in the field and it began to rain.

_Didn't you check the weather report, Smallville? _she asked him with laughter in her voice as they run inside the house soaked to the skin.

He sits down on the rug in front of the fireplace, his fingers caressing the soft faux fur as he remembers telling her that he forgot, but maybe they could still have that picnic. She smiled as they went upstairs to change into dry clothes, then return to the living room. She sits down on the rug cross-legged and watches as he builds a fire, skillfully arranging the logs before striking a match to the wadded up balls of paper wedged between them. They both smile as the fireplace comes to life. Satisfied with the results, he gets up and retrieves the picnic basket from the kitchen.

_Here's to us,_ he smiles at her as they clink their glasses…

He looks up at the clock on the mantle and realizes with a start that it was one in the morning. He gets up to go upstairs when he finally notices the open doorway and locks the door before going up to his bedroom to change into his sweatpants and t-shirt. After shutting off the lights, he slips under the covers and pulls the blanket up to his chest and staring at the ceiling for what feels like hours. After a while, he looks over at the clock and sees with dismay that only fifteen minutes had passed.

He reaches for his cell phone and starts to dial her number, but he stops mid-way. _No_, he tells himself and puts the phone back down on the bedside table. After a few more minutes he reaches for it again but doesn't dial the number, instead just gazing at the picture of the two of them.

He wonders if he's crossed her mind at all since she left him. Does she ache with longing for him as he does for her? Does she still need him as much as he needs her? So many questions racing through his head as he rolls over and punches the pillow a few times before laying his head back down on the pillow, staring once again at the ceiling and knowing that it was going to be another sleepless night.

Alone.

* * *

**Part 3: Lois' POV **

She stood on top of one of the sandy dunes in the middle of the desert, tears in her eyes and her hair flying behind her as she gazed again at the picture of her and Clark and thought about the letter she left him.

_I couldn't pass up Africa after all._

Those words continue to haunt her, causing an ache inside her heart that had yet to subside. Once again she pondered whether or not she did the right thing by leaving so suddenly, also wondering if maybe she should have tried talking to him before making her decision instead of leaving a letter.

She gave herself a mental shake and wrapped the scarf around her head, then across her mouth and nose to keep from swallowing the sand blowing around her before slipping the picture back into her jacket pocket. She headed for the camel that would transport her part of the way to the archeological site that she was sent there to cover.

Over eleven hours of an extremely bumpy camel ride and jeep ride later, she slipped off the scarf as she entered the tent containing various artifacts and started looking around. One drawing in particular caught her eye. She walked over to it, picking it up and looking at it curiously.

_They were star-crossed lovers_, a voice said. She turned around and stared as a rugged looking man wearing a pair of khaki-colored pants and matching shirt entered the tent. _Guess you never know what fate has planned for you, _he continued on with an enigmatic smile on his face_._

Later that night when she was lying on a cot in one of the tents, she thought about some of the things the man said to her as he poured some whiskey into a couple glasses.

_What if you're exactly the thing that might help him be the person you know he can be? What if you're the one who makes his burden easier to bear?_

She wanted to believe in everything he said, that she could be the one who encouraged him whenever he felt like giving up, but she continued to cling stubbornly to the belief that she was holding him back.

_With every great relationship, Lois, comes a great burden. And the strength to carry it._

She didn't think that she was strong enough to carry such a burden, that her love for Clark would just get in the way of him fulfilling his destiny. She punched the flimsy pillow again before looking over for the millionth time at the small travel clock she set on the small table next to the cot, sighing heavily and her head plopping back down on the pillow when she saw that it was a few minutes after one in the morning.

Her eyes close again and she tries once more to fall asleep, but it was no use. She got up a few minutes later and walked into the tent that contained the artifacts and searched for the whiskey. Once she found it, she returned to her tent but didn't go inside right away, pulling out of her pocket the collapsible cup from her travel kit and pouring some of the whiskey into it.

She dropped the empty bottle a few minutes later and stumbled back into her tent a little drunk. She started to sit down on the cot but slipped off and fell to the floor with a soft thud. She chuckled wryly to herself that it was a good thing that there was sand underneath the canvas floor and not anything harder.

All of a sudden there was a sudden gust of wind, causing the tent to shake. For a moment she believed that it was Clark coming to see her, to tell her his secret and give her a reason to come back. Her eyes clouded with disappointment as she pulled herself up and laid back on the cot.

She reached over for her phone and thought about calling Clark, but instead stared at the picture of them that was taken at a monster truck rally they went to early on in their relationship. She chuckles lightly as she recalled how much he really didn't want to go, but then a lone tear rolls down her cheek because he only went because it meant so much to her.

Her eyes stared up at the canvas roof and she wondered once more if she crossed his mind at all as he went through his daily routine. Did he miss her like she missed him? Did he need her and long for her like she longed for him?

She shook her head and buried it in her pillow again, the ache in her heart intensified instead of being dulled by the whiskey.

It was going to be another sleepless night.

Alone.


End file.
